With very little time for today’s sound I resorted to randomizing the parameters in Pluggo’s xmod synth, then resampling the results as I dragged the mouse up and down on the virtual keyboard in Ableton Live’s sequencer. I often use this technique with a variety of VSTs as a starting point to get a new sound, so I thought I’d lay it down, so you can hear a little behind-the-scenes audio.
Random Parameter Keyboard Mash
The conversation happening under Acceptable Use of Factory Presets and Samples? is starting to reflect the subject matter that is examined in the film Good Copy Bad Copy, so I thought it would be a good idea to reference it here in case any ACB readers haven’t seen it yet. I have been showing this one hour long documentary to friends and students since its release in 2007 and highly recommend it.
Good Copy Bad Copy is a fascinating look at the current state of copyright law and how it clashes with popular culture. The film has extended interviews with artists like Danger Mouse and Girl Talk, industry big wigs like Dan Glickman CEO of the MPAA, and IP and music copyright expert Dr. Lawrence Ferrara director of the music department at NYU. It covers the Brazilian phenomenon Techno Brega, a form of electronic music that merges western pop songs with latin styles, and takes a look at the rapidly expanding Nigerian film industry. The film can be viewed here at ACB, at their website, or legally downloaded from a torrent (www.goodcopybadcopy.net).
I am not, nor will I ever claim to be a guitarist, so please forgive the playing in this example. I do like the sound I have achieved here though. To get it I ran a cheap Fender Squire through VST distortion, thickly modulated chorus, followed by delay, and reverb. It’s very 80s, although I was not necessarily going for that. I does seem to go well in the piece in which it was recorded.
Oxotremorine Guitar Sound
An issue that I often contemplate is, when is it acceptable to use factory presets and samples? I tend not to use them most of the time in favor of inventing new sounds and sampling from my own recordings and instruments. However, sometimes I make exceptions, such as using presets for classic keyboard sounds like pianos and organs, or individual drum samples for programming beats. Personally I have an aversion to using them, but I don’t doubt that lots of excellent music is produced using unchanged samples and factory presets. So the question remains, when is it a good idea and when is it a bad idea to rely on what has been painstakingly produced for us by industry professionals?
When I use presets I usually make some adjustments to in order to get closer to what I’m after sonically. In the piece Rihaku that I wrote with Nils Westdal for our album Truth is Stranger I used the factory sampled piano on the Yamaha A3000. I would have preferred to use an acoustic piano, but opted to give the sampler a go for budgetary reasons. In order to get a bit more sustain out of the sound I made some subtle but effective changes to the patch including manipulating the envelope, adjusting the velocity sensitivity, and slightly compressing the output.
Rihaku by Keston and Westdal
I created this synthesized effect using a Korg MS200 Analog Modeling Synthesizer. I often use this instrument with the external sync enabled for arpeggiation and and tempo delay processing. The delay does some strange things with the external sync enabled. As you adjust the delay time it jumps from different units of time within the tempo including triplets. This can produced some future dub, spaced out, synthethized effects when the feedback is up all the way.
Korg MS2000 Tempo Delay Effect